BEIJING, June 28 (Xinhua) -- June 27, 2021 marks the second anniversary of the Belt and Road Economic Information Partnership (BREIP), a multilateral cooperation mechanism initiated by Xinhua News Agency and jointly established by information service providers, think-tanks, and research institutes, etc. in countries and regions participating in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
Under the cooperation principles of "equality and voluntariness, extensive consultation and joint contribution, cooperation and mutual benefit", BREIP member institutions have been deepening cooperation with consolidated international presence and influence in the past two years.
-- Expanded scale to realize sharing of economic information
Since the founding of BREIP in late June 2019, its global scale has been expanded. Up to now, the number of BREIP member institutions has increased from 33 to 41, and its coverage has extended from 25 countries and regions to 29 countries and regions in Asia, Europe, Oceania, Africa and South America.
Photo shows the member institutions of BREIP.
BREIP has diversified members including state-level news agencies like Kenya News Agency, Mexico's Notimex and Lao News Agency, influential newspaper groups like Delovoy Kazakhstan, Jornal Economico in Portugal and Trybuna in Poland as well as enterprises, research institutions and international think-tanks engaged in economic information production and dissemination.
To realize the exchange of economic information among BREIP member institutions, China Economic Information Service (CEIS), a specialized economic information service provider under Xinhua News Agency, has launched BRInfo, a platform for the sharing of economic information. So far, more than 44,000 pieces of information have been shared on this platform, covering various sectors like finance, transportation, information technology, chemical industry, electric power, construction, pharmacy, new energy, food and beverage, environmental protection and home appliance.
Photo shows the webpage of BRInfo.
-- Deepened cooperation to promote B&R construction
Since its founding, BREIP has continuously practiced the mission in its statute, namely "promoting communication and cooperation among the B&R countries through information services", propelling the in-depth development of bilateral and multilateral cooperation among member institutions.
At the inaugural meeting of BREIP held in Beijing on June 27, 2019, Raphael Bozzolan Juan, director of Brazil's CMA News Agency, pointed out that under the multiple cooperation mechanism of BREIP, new agencies can play a better role in eliminating asymmetric information, and the member institutions can provide true, timely and effective economic information about trade, investment, etc. to facilitate balanced trade development.
Dzmitry Prymshyts, deputy director for Research and Innovation of the Institute of Economics of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, also believed that BREIP will be a tool of diversified cooperation to reduce the "information deficits" among countries.
Photo shows Raphael Bozzolan Juan, director of CMA News Agency (left) and Dzmitry Prymshyts, deputy director for Research and Innovation of the Institute of Economics of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus (right) deliver speeches at the inaugural meeting of BREIP.
Over the past two years, under the multilateral cooperation mechanism, BREIP has encouraged bilateral exchanges and enhanced business cooperation among member institutions, which are highlighted by the partnership of CEIS with other member institutions.
In the Asian-Pacific region, in June 2020, CEIS and Chinese Times (Laos) jointly launched the "Xinhua Silk Road Bilingual Information" column that provides the original Chinese economic information in Laos. It serves as a window of showing China's economy and the B&R construction to the government, enterprises and organizations in Laos, and builds up a platform for Chinese enterprises to invest in Laos and partner with local entities.
Photo shows the "Xinhua Silk Road Bilingual Information" column launched by CEIS and Chinese Times (Laos).
In July 2020, CEIS was invited to attend the webinar on "New Opportunities and Challenges of China-Pakistan Cooperation in the Post-epidemic Era" hosted by Research and Development International (RDI), a BREIP member institution in China, to discuss the new cooperation opportunities and challenges between the China and Pakistan in public health, economic development, digital transformation, etc. At the webinar, a Joint Initiative on Promoting International Cooperation in COVID-19 Prevention and Control and High-quality Development of CPEC was published by CEIS, attracting extensive attention of governments, enterprises and scholars of both countries.
Photo shows the webinar on "New Opportunities and Challenges of China-Pakistan Cooperation in the Post-epidemic Era".
CEIS and New Zealand's NEXT Federation co-organized the 3rd and 4th sessions of NEXT Summit respectively in November 2019 and November 2020, which were attended by a number of government and enterprise delegates to advance the B&R construction.
Photo shows the themes of the 3rd and 4th sessions of NEXT Summit.
In Eurasia, since March 2020, the economic information of CEIS has been published on Belt and Road, a Russian-language magazine issued by Delovoy Kazakhstan. By the end of June 2021, a total of 18 issues of magazines were published, and over 2,000 pieces of Chinese economic information were published on Delovoy Kazakhstan's website, significantly enhancing the awareness of the B&R construction in Kazakhstan and the Russian-speaking regions.
Photo shows a cover of Delovoy Kazakhstan's new magazine (left) and the China's economic information being showed on the Delovoy Kazakhstan's website (right).
In Europe, CEIS and Italy's Class Editori held three sessions of Belt and Road Conference of Investment Matching for Chinese and Italian Enterprises respectively in 2018, 2019 and 2020. The events serve as a platform of dialogue and cooperation between Chinese and Italian enterprises as well as Chinese and European enterprises, facilitating the implementation of China-Italy cooperation achievements on the Belt and Road, and boosting the progress of joint construction of the Belt and Road.
Photo shows the 2nd and 3rd sessions of Belt and Road Conference of Investment Matching for Chinese and Italian Enterprises.
-- Joint efforts in combating COVID-19 pandemic
The outbreak of COVID-19 epidemic has brought the BREIP member institutions together, creating exemplary cases of mutual help and solidarity against the pandemic.
In the early days of the pandemic, over 100 pieces of imformation on how China was combating COVID-19 epidemic were shared on BRInfo, including analyses of the impact of the pandemic on China's economy and industry and work resumption measures of Chinese governments at all levels and China-based enterprises. The shared information conveyed the confidence and experience to the member institutions and won international recognitions for China's achievements in combating COVID-19 epidemic. After learning the shared information on BRInfo, Delovoy Kazakhstan published special articles on its magazine to introduce and support China's efforts in epidemic prevention and control.
After the overseas outbreak of COVID-19 epidemic, CEIS collected the effective measures and innovative approaches of Chinese governments, communities and enterprises in combating the pandemic, and offered the special feature of "Combating COVID-19". It provided overseas viewers with online query of China's domestic supply of medical facilities, and timely released authoritative information via multimedia like text, short video and long image.
Photo shows the special feature named "Combating COVID-19" by CEIS.
The special feature was highly recognized by BREIP member institutions as a timely and valuable toolkit to assist local epidemic prevention and control. NEXT Federation and Class Editori displayed this special feature prominently on their websites while Xinhua Finance Agency in China's Hong Kong republished many messages.
In addition to routine information sharing, BREIP member institutions also made considerable efforts in addressing tailor-made epidemic control needs and providing relevant supplies.
Upon the receipt of Class Editori's specific request for the information of epidemic control supplies manufacturers and China's experience of combating COVID-19 epidemic, CEIS timely provided China's policies and experience as well as the information of domestic medical protective equipment manufacturers that supported the epidemic prevention and control in Italy.
At the same time, CEIS worked with Chinese pharmaceutical companies to donate epidemic prevention supplies to the BREIP member institutions including Jornal Economico and Class Editori, fully demonstrating the friendship with mutual support among the member institutions. Receiving the donated supplies, Luis Trindade, CEO of Jornal Economico, expressed his heartfelt thanks to the BREIP member institutions for the valuable support in the most difficult time.
Photo shows Luis Trindade, CEO of Jornal Economico, receives the COVID-19 IgG/IgM rapid test cassettes donated by China.
The development of BREIP not only bridges the gap of information, but also builds up the friendship of the B&R countries.
In the future, BREIP will strengthen its role as a bridge and a tie to further smoothen information exchange and sharing, connect member institutions by interaction and mutual help, and promote the B&R construction in depth and breadth. (Contributed by Tong Wei with Xinhua Silk Road, tongwei@xinhua.org)
A single purchase
